‘Twelve months ago, we couldn’t see this coming in a fit’, says Charleville's Tony McAuliffe

Victory tomorrow would see Charleville begin 2019 not just as a senior club, but one hour from an All-Ireland final appearance at Croke Park.

‘Twelve months ago, we couldn’t see this coming in a fit’, says Charleville's Tony McAuliffe

Victory tomorrow would see Charleville begin 2019 not just as a senior club, but one hour from an All-Ireland final appearance at Croke Park.

All told, it’s been a year to remember for the North Cork club; a first Cork premier intermediate hurling championship title, ending, in the process, a 66-year wait for a return to the senior ranks; a first North Cork junior football crown and a first Cork U21 B football final win.

Of course, there’s the opportunity to add to that haul of silverware at the Gaelic Grounds this weekend, while the club’s U21 hurlers, nine of whom are starters on the premier intermediate team, are still alive in their respective competition.

That Charleville will end the decade as a senior club is quite the feat when you consider where they found themselves back in 2010; a junior club who were dumped out of that year’s North Cork hurling championship, by Churchtown, at the semi-final stage.

It was a result which gave rise to widespread disenchantment within the club. For that group, it was to prove their nadir.

They’d finish the following year as Cork and Munster junior champions, that particular campaign finishing up, unsuccessfully, mind you, at Croke Park in the spring of 2012.

Charleville would lose a county intermediate semi (2012) and final (2014) before ascending to premier intermediate level. That they required just three seasons to move up again adds further to what has been an “incredible” couple of years for the club.

“This decade has been a remarkable one,” says selector Tony McAuliffe.

“When we were beaten in the 2010 North Cork junior semi-final, there was a lot of people disillusioned. All credit to the players, they turned it around and went all the way to an All-Ireland junior club final the season after.

“In most counties, you have to win junior and intermediate to get senior. Here, we had to win an extra grade. We won three county titles this decade. This year alone has been fantastic and a win on Sunday would add to that. Twelve months ago, we couldn’t see this coming in a fit.”

Captaining the team out against Clare champions Feakle will be Danny O’Flynn. Although having broken a bone in his hand during the county semi-final victory over Fr O’Neill’s, he refused to be sidelined by this setback, lining out for both the drawn and replayed county final.

At 29, the Ballyhea primary school teacher is the oldest member of the starting team. Having joined the junior set-up back in 2007, positioned at corner-forward for that year’s county final defeat to Barryroe, he’s lived every moment of the decade described by McAuliffe as both “incredible and remarkable”.

“For those couple of years before we won the county junior in 2011, the talent was there. But when the pressure came on, we just didn’t do ourselves justice,” O’Flynn recalls.

“In 2010, we thought we were in with a great shout of winning the North Cork. The semi-final loss to Churchtown made us ask ourselves a lot of hard questions that winter.

“We went back very early in preparation for the 2011 season. There was no hanging around. We got a great couple of young lads onto the team at that time, the likes of Gavin Kelleher, Alan Dennehy and James O’Brien. They gave us a fresh impetus. They coming on board probably created the bit of competition that was needed. Fellas perform better when their place is in jeopardy.”

It’s been a similar story in recent years, the latest influx of youth driving the club onto higher planes.

Compare the 2015 county intermediate winning team to the side which delivered premier intermediate glory and you’ll find a turnover of seven players. Into the starting team has come Darren Butler, Jack Meade, Cathal Carroll, Jack O’Callaghan, Kevin O’Connor, Jack Doyle and Tim Hawe. All bar O’Connor are still U21.

“This influx of youth is to a greater degree than the last one because there have been times this year when we’ve had 10 U21s on the starting team. The young lads just have so much confidence in themselves. They have been used to winning underage, compared to someone like myself who didn’t win underage. They are helping all the older lads because we are just going along with them. They are making us train harder.”

These are sentiments echoed by McAuliffe. The selector cannot stress enough the role played by the younger brigade in moving Charleville within one hour of a second provincial success.

“Last year, we came out of Milford, having been well beaten by Kanturk in the quarter-final, and the heads were a small bit down. It was a learning curve for the young lads, going up against the likes of Lorcán McLoughlin and Aidan Walsh. It gave them grounding in what standard they had to reach.

“They have been a breath of fresh air to the whole thing over the past two years. They have no fear. They have no hang-ups. They just want to hurl. They knew they were good enough and when they got their chance, they took it with both hands.”

It is put to McAuliffe the winter will fly in Charleville if they can manage Munster glory tomorrow.

“There’ll be no winter at all,” he shoots back in reply.

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